Our High School Years
by Prunus mume
Summary: After the assassination of Koro-sensei, everyone in Class-E entered high school together. With the pressure of the world around them, a new addition to their class can heal or destroy what little they have left. Au where Karma never returned for the third year of middle school.
**I just had this idea stuck in my head, and had to jot it down. If a lot of people likes it, I will try and continue with this story. I would love to hear some reviews from my readers about it. If you can, check out my other stories as well.**

 **Ansatsu Kyoushitsu belongs to Yūsei Matsui.**

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Chapter 1: Karma Akabane

The rain pounded down on the group of students who stood in front of an old classroom building. However, none of them cared for the fact that they were soaked and shivering. The only thing they can do is stare at the body lying in front of them, covered in bruises and scares; a human body. No sign of the former yellow gel-like figure was present. Only that single, very much dead, human.

Kayano Kaede stared worriedly at the boy who still sat on top of the body with his hands still gripping the knife that was embedded in the man's chest.

"Nagisa?" She cautiously asked, afraid to let her voice get above a whisper.

The boy stiffened a bit at the sound of his name before forcing his shoulders to relax. He slowly turned to her, and Kaede couldn't help but flinch at the dead look in his eyes.

"I-," He gasped out, pausing a bit to look at everyone present before correcting himself, "we…killed him." At his words, everyone present jerked a bit in fear. He ignored their reaction, opting to stare straight at his best friend as he continued, "We finally killed him."

Kaede felt tears slowly trickle down her face as she watched panic set in on her friend. Stumbling to him slowly, she embraced him in a gentle hug, as though he would break if she put too much pressure, and whispered, "Yes, we did."

After a very long yet short year, it was finally over.

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Nagisa waited at the gates of his new school as students passed by him in their rush to be on time for classes. Soon, he stood up straight as he saw a mop of green hair head in his direction, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Kaede!" he called out to the girl as she rushed over.

"Nagisa!" She cried out happily, "Sorry I'm a bit late!"

Nagisa waved a hand dismissively as he replied, "It's fine. No one else had got here yet."

"I see." Kaede breathed out a sigh of relief.

Slowly, other students gathered around the two, each greeting each other happily. Once the last one, a boy by the name of Terasaka Ryoma, arrived, and the group walked in to their high school. Other students watched the group as they headed for a small building standing in the furthest corner of the school. They ignored the others who whispered amongst themselves as they watched.

"Who in the world are they?"

"…Kunugigaoka Middle School's E-Class..."

"The incident with that scary tentacle creature…"

"How pitiful."

"…but I heard they all were able to score the top 28 spots with the exception of that guy who got first place."

"Amazing, considering that I heard..."

"From the 'End Class' to the A-Class, huh…"

"None of them came to the entrance ceremony…"

"They must think they're above us."

"How arrogant."

Nagisa clenched his hands into a fist as he heard some of what the other students were saying. Kaede, noticing this, gently placed her hand around his and gave a reassuring squeeze. In return, Nagisa smiled at her gratefully and continued walking with the rest of his class. Together, they filed into the spacious classroom that was specialized for them. Sitting at the front of the class in the teacher's seat was Karasuma Tadaomi. Upon seeing them enter, he gave a small smile and indicated for them to choose their seats.

As the late bell rang, everyone started to settle down for class when the door slid open and a boy with fiery red hair walked in confidently. Nagisa's eyes widened as he recognized who he is and whispered, "Karma-kun?"

Karma's eyes widened a bit before returning to normal, his lips tilting up into a wide smirk as he said, "Yo, Nagisa-kun. It's been a while."

Nagisa blinked a bit in disbelief. After what had happened the previous year, such a simple greeting from the red-haired boy felt so foreign. With everything that had happened, it felt like he hadn't seen him for ten years instead of one. It reminded him of just how short their time with Koro-sensei was, and just how precious the memories of that year was. He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to cry again as his eyes slowly watered.

Karma frowned a bit at the reaction Nagisa had. It appears that the incident he heard of on the news was true. He had missed a vital part of Nagisa's life, causing the already existing rift between them to widen more than it had. Whatever happened with the so-called tentacle monster must have caused Nagisa to change a lot. As he glanced around at the others in the class, he noticed that they all seem to glare at him with mistrust, and, if he isn't mistaken, a glint of bloodlust.

Karma knew that the most logical emotion toward such dark looks would be fear. True, he can feel his brain screaming for him to run. However, "something" deep down within him, that "something" that comes out when he fights. The "something" that makes his heart pound and blood boil, told him to stay.

It's been so long since he had something interesting to do. Having Nagisa around is also a plus.

Nagisa watched as Karma assessed the glares aimed at him. He watched as his expression went from one of wariness to one of excitement. Seeing this, Nagisa himself couldn't help but let out a wry smile. It appeared that Karma hadn't changed much in the past year, unlike him.

"Yes, it's been a long time, Karma-kun." Taking a deep breath, Nagisa finally replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

As if Nagisa's greeting to Karma was a command to cease-fire, the tense atmosphere immediately lessoned to a certain extent. Karma gave a small smirk before heading to his seat assigned at the back of the classroom.

Karasuma, seeing that the whole ordeal was over, coughed to get the class's attention. Once everyone turned to look at him, he said, "I understand that I was supposed to only stay with you for one year. However, I felt that after everything that had happened, I cannot simply turn my back on this class. Especially since the government had wanted to isolate you as much as possible from the people in the community. I know I would not be as good of a teacher as the yellow-octopus, but I hope everyone here would bear with me."

Silence filled the room for a bit. Everyone knew about how the government had blown everything up on the global scale, and how nowadays, not one of them can walk down a street without someone offering their pity, asking about what happened during their "captivity", or whispering behind their backs. Even some of their family members had started to shut them out, some unwilling to let their children near them because of their "brain-washed" state.

Karasuma's expression took a dark turn as he explained, "The government understood all your involvement in the 'incident', and they were rather…impressed. They have not straight out said that they wanted you to continue to train as assassins, but it was implied quite a bit. I personally feel that it's up to you what you want to be, so I will just be continuing the combat training as a replacement for P.E. I shall also try and create the most normal classroom setting for all of you to the best of my ability, but if you wish to leave this classroom, I can try and convince them to let you."

The former students of Class 3-E murmured their consent to continue their training with him, and Karasuma gave a ghost of a smile in relief and continued, "Now then, even if it is the first day. I hope all of you are prepared. We are starting with Mathematics for first period."

Compared to Koro-sensei, Karasuma's methods of teaching were a bit difficult. However, having observed how the octopus taught the past year, Karasuma had a basic understanding on how to go about the subjects with each student. It took longer than Koro-sensei, but the whole class eventually understood the basics to the unit.

Karma, having no trouble with the lesson, ignored the teacher and decided to let his thoughts wonder over what had happened instead. It appears that the incident was more than a simple hostage situation. Nobody felt it necessary to discuss the details with Karma, but he at least understood the fact that the government were actually the ones who forced the students to deal with the situation. Now he understood why the school administration was so reluctant to place him in this class, even though he scored first. Karma himself wouldn't have cared which class he ended up in until he happened to see Nagisa's name in the stack of paper as the principle went to deal with another situation. Afterwards, he insisted on being placed in Class A-1 until the principle relented, warning him that, if anything happened to him, he would hold no responsibility for it.

Typical adults.

He glimpsed over toward the blue-haired male sitting at the window seat. Appearance-wise, the boy hadn't changed much, but the "something" Karma had noticed in the boy when they were friends seemed more prominent. The "something" Karma had wanted to drag out and destroy, just to be safe.

Maybe it's because he had a year to think over it, or maybe it's because he grew up a bit over the time, but Karma no longer felt a want to "destroy" that "something". In fact, it was just the opposite. Sure, he still felt a certain amount of fear when he saw him, but, looking at Nagisa's figure again, Karma couldn't help but tremble in excitement as he felt his blood pound loudly in his veins. Whatever happened had caused Nagisa to embrace that darkness Karma saw in him, and since it's out, he might as well try and completely crack it open. Maybe he can find out what happened during the previous year along the way.

Nagisa sighed as the bell rang once more, signaling a short resting period for the class. He glanced down at the homework assigned for math, and decided that he should try to get most of it done during this time. Unfortunately, Kaede had other plans.

"Ne, Nagisa." Kaede called out, "Who is the new boy? You two seem to know each other really well."

Nagisa blinked a bit before giving a small smile and answered, "That's Karma Akabane. He was in Class-E in the first and second year, but left after a suspension before the third year."

"Hmm." Kaede hummed thoughtfully, frowning a bit.

Nagisa, noticing her expression, asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's just that," Kaede paused a bit before changing her mind, "no, it's nothing."

Nagisa gave Kaede a look of confusion but decided not to question her any further. He turned his attention back to Karasuma at the front of the classroom once the bell rang again. Even with his well-developed observation skills, Nagisa missed Kaede's quiet voice as she whispered, "I don't want to see you hurt anymore. None of us do."


End file.
